This might seem like a strange question, but is there a certain smell in a room full of pearls such as the one pictured? The reason I ask is that I make some jewelry, and I keep all of my mother of pearl components in a plastic tackle box. There is a smell when I open it that I can only assume comes from the mother of pearl (because I have other components in the same type of boxes and only the containers with the mother of pearl and the one with bone components have a scent.)
Do pearls have a certain scent when present in this type of quantity?